


at the common again

by mildlydiscouraging



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: 2012, Angst, M/M, That's All The Warning You Need, that too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-11
Updated: 2015-07-11
Packaged: 2018-04-07 02:42:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4246401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mildlydiscouraging/pseuds/mildlydiscouraging
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He can hear Dan shuffling around in his bed, both through the phone and through the wall. It doesn't occur to him to question why Dan's calling when he's only a room away. It seems only fitting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	at the common again

**Author's Note:**

> title from "[102](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Z16SPic_TI)" by matty healy. heavily inspired by it as well.
> 
> i dunno, i was in a weird mood and this came out.

At first it feels like he's been shot in the head. Then Phil realizes he fell asleep on top of his now-buzzing phone.

He really needs to stop doing this, but he pulls his phone out from under his pillow as it keeps ringing. The black and white picture of Dan from last summer almost blinds him, too bright against the dark bedroom.

It takes him two tries to accept the call, fingers unresponsive and numbed by sleep.

"Dan, what-?"

His voice is scratchier than he had hoped it would be and he tries again.

"What's up?" He doesn't ask what's wrong. That he knows.

He can hear Dan shuffling around in his bed, both through the phone and through the wall. It doesn't occur to him to question why Dan's calling when he's only a room away. It seems only fitting.

"Do you remember the day after we met?" Dan's voice is much clearer. Either he's been awake for a while already or he just never went to sleep.

Phil sits up against the headboard, rubbing his eyes with one hand and holding up his phone with the other. "Vaguely."

"That was when we decided your guestroom was too horrifying and I spent the night in your bed."

 _That_ he remembers. Dan had deemed the entire house too creepy for him and they ended up spending all their time either in Phil's room or out in the city. By the time Dan's train was pulling out of the station, there wasn't a single thing left in that room that didn't feel like him.

"You stole all the covers." Phil smiles ruefully at the memory as he pulls his comforter closer around himself. He tries to ignore how much emptier it feels all of a sudden, but it doesn't go very well.

"Yeah, and you spilled soda all over my shirt," Dan retorts. For a second Phil pretends this is how it always is.

"I gave you one of mine, though, that's got to count for something." He almost yawns halfway through his sentence.

He hears Dan sigh and feels Dan knock his head back against the wall.

"I never gave it back, you know?"

It was blue, the shirt. It was a blue flannel button-up, too big on the Dan who was so much smaller back then, The sleeves had covered his hands and the collar slid off a shoulder every time he moved and Phil was so in love with him.

"Didn't you?"

He used to wear it, Phil remembers, sitting on the balcony in the near-dark, brushing his teeth next to Phil in the mirror, under a sweatshirt, thrown on the floor. He used to wear it too much for Phil to forget it was once his.

Dan's voice is different when he finally replies. He sounds more wavering than Phil is used to. Dan, always solid, just a little transparent in that moment.

"It's still in the bottom of my wardrobe," he says.

 _It still smells like you_ , he doesn't say.

"And I don't wanna give it back, but I don't think I can keep it anymore."

He probably has that smile on, the one that Phil pretends not to see. It's thin and watery, but it's still a smile. He wears it too often, when they've run out of things to fill the space with and things get too close to silent.

Sometimes he wishes it wasn't that close to a smile. It would be so much easier to pretend it didn't matter then.

"Maybe you should. Keep it, I mean." As soon as it's out, Phil holds his breath. Enough air was spent in between and he couldn't risk any more.

"It probably fits you better than me now," he offers when it's been quiet for much too long again. He tilts his head back against the wall and imagines he can feel Dan on the other side. It doesn't matter that that's not the way the rooms are laid out. It's more of a metaphorical thing, really.

"I doubt it." Dan doesn't laugh. "Have you seen me lately? I'm a fucking twig."

There's no mention of how he hasn't really seen Dan lately. That would be too close.

"Maybe you should," he repeats. "Who knows, maybe you could wear it one day."

It says a lot, but for once he knows Dan is listening.

"Maybe," Dan agrees.

The comforter feels that much less empty.

"Maybe."

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you enjoyed it? it's not a very positive kind of thing, sorry.
> 
> tumblr @[dweebhowell](http://dweebhowell.tumblr.com)


End file.
